Category: Campbeltown

58.3% alc./vol.
Springbank Distillery, Campbeltown, Campbeltown, Scotland

"Guns on the Grouse Moor".

We continue with special bottling of Springbank, distributed by none other than Scotch Malt Whiskey Society is open to us today.

If you do not know the SMWS you can continue reading. If you prefer to go directly to the assessment of this traffic jam, you can skip the next two paragraphs that I constantly come back in this type of article.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society , or SMWS , is the largest whisky club in the world, with more XNUMX XNUMX members spread across XNUMX countries. With their roots in the UK, they are so extensive that they can afford to buy whisky casks and bottle them for sale exclusively to their members.

Always single casks, bottled cask strength without any mention of the distillery, their expressions are always highly praised and worshipped. Although the percentage of alcohol and the age of the whisky are indicated on the mysterious bottle, no mention of the distillery of origin is found there. The only clue to its origin is in the form of a cryptic code that cannot be deciphered until one has access to the appropriate legend.

The mysterious company here presents us a Springbank of 16 years of age, distilled the 31 May 1998 and aged in ex-gorda of sherry, for a final crop of 738 bottles.

As the English writer and journalist Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name, put it so well George Orwell (1903-1950) said so well:

A naughty thing, even in fashion, remains ugly ...

Amber-pink rather neutral.

Nose:
Assertive cereal, honey and jams, all surrounded by a kind of cloud of rot, as if we had forgotten to close the lid of the trash. Some salty jerky and peat smoke develop later.

Taste:
In the mouth a little acid, medium texture, oranges, vanilla, sherry, red fruits and oak. A nice mix that almost makes you forget the dubious nose.

Finish:
The flavors mentioned above are always at the rendezvous, but a kind of aura of dyes dyes all.

Balance:
Without being totally base, it is an example of a mixture which, without being completely unbalanced, remains more or less good.

Note: ★★★★★

46% alc./vol.
Springbank Distillery, Campbeltown, Campbeltown, Scotland

We come back today to this part of Scotland that we rarely visit, Campbeltown, with a traffic jam of a venerable age, the Springbank 18 years.

The distillery Springbank obtained his 1828 distillation license, although it operated illegally long before that, and has been using barley peat barley since its inception to make a malt that is distilled two-and-a-half times. Their process has three stills, and only half of the second distillate goes into the last one.

This 18 age is composed of 80% whiskey aged in barrels of sherry, and 20% having stayed in barrels of bourbon.

As the painter from Lorraine said so well Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) said so well:

Do not try to drown your problems in alcohol, they can swim ...

Pure golden sun yellow.

Nose:
Sea water and sweet smoke. Grass and mentholated cereal. A bit of iodized peat.

Taste:
Honey and spicy vanilla, passion fruit. Oily texture on beautiful peaty sugars.

Finish:
Short but very saline and fruity on an old worn tire.

Balance:
Excellent, but over $ 200 and for a 18 year old I was expecting a bit more.

Note: ★ ★ ★ ★★